The WITOIF syndrome
More than once I’ve had that feeling - an idea so dastardly simple and brilliant, I can’t help but feel ashamed that I hadn’t been able to connect the dots myself. And it’s even more amazing when, in this age when ideas spread instantly around the globe, you find that no one else has thought of it either.
I recently met with a potential client who wanted us to develop a new site for them. Over the phone we’d chatted about their existing business, and a new audience they wanted to reach out to with this offering. They already had many of the pieces they’d need to make it all work, but he wouldn’t share any details until we met in person.
It was vague and fascinating, and I can’t help in those situations but try to put the pieces together myself. I met with him the next day.
Within about 5 minutes of walking in the door, he had shared only the name of the website he wanted us to build - but everything had fallen into place. My head was bobbing up and down - “yes, yes, yes… this makes perfect sense. This is brilliant.”
And it still amazes me: no one is doing this already. And it’s not that no one else has the wherewithal or the pieces to make it happen, it’s just that no one is doing this. No one else has put the puzzle together yet.
Sadly, confidentiality prevents me from sharing any details, but trust me: it’s freakin’ brilliant. Mind you, it’s not going to change the world in any fundamental sense, but it is going to bug the hell out of a lot of people who could’ve thought of it first, but didn’t.
And I wish that I’d thought of it first.
2 years ago • Notes